Integrated wireless distribution and mesh backhaul networks

ABSTRACT

A wireless network using nodes that perform both distribution and backhaul functions is provided. These nodes constitute the key elements of a wireless network that would be deployed and controlled by a wireless network operator. Each node contains a distribution wireless module which is wirelessly coupled to the wireless end user device using a point to multipoint scheme. Also integrated into each node is at least one backhaul wireless module with a directional wireless antenna. Each backhaul wireless module communicates by way of a point to point wireless link with the backhaul module of one other node. The nodes in the wireless network are interconnected to form a mesh backhaul network wherein data traffic can be routed around obstacles that may prevent line of site links. Furthermore, the mesh network allows dynamic routing of data traffic to avoid congestion points or downed links in the network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/964,931 filed Dec. 10, 2010, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/708,768 filed Feb. 19, 2010, now issuedU.S. Pat. No. 8,009,562, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/592,994 filed Nov. 6, 2006, now issued U.S. Pat.No. 7,693,105, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/183,730 filed Jun. 28, 2002, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,667.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wireless communications and isparticularly applicable but not limited to networks, devices and methodsfor flexible, high capacity, integrated wireless distribution and meshpoint to point backhaul networks.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

The communications revolution of the past few years has seen anexplosion in the number of wireless devices. Cellular telephones,personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, and other consumer devicesare using wireless technology to provide connectivity to their users.Wireless technology is currently being used to provide voice-basedservices for cellular and PCS (Personal Communication Services)telephones, with increasing need for into building coverage. PDAs andlaptops can now access the Internet and local dedicated intranets,giving end users access to not only email but also to World Wide Webbased content. The increased demand for access to more services in morelocations imposes higher performance demands on the wirelessinfrastructure.

One major problem facing wireless networks is backhaul datatransmission. As cellular and PCS voice utilization inside buildingsincreases and as the data transfer rate provided to the end userincreases, the backhaul network feeding the localized wireless nodesgets heavily burdened. Each local wireless node servicing local wirelessend users must be fed traffic from public and/or private, voice and/ordata networks. As each end user demands coverage in more areas andhigher data throughput, the backhaul network, the network that feeds thelocalized wireless nodes that actually distribute data traffic toindividual end users, has to provide more and more data capacity.Further, as wireless data speed requirements increase, cell sizes—thearea serviced by the localized wireless nodes—must shrink. As celldensity increases, then, so does the number of backhaul nodes and linksthat are needed to feed the cells. In fact, the number of backhaul linksincreases inversely with the square of the wireless nodes' cell radius.

Because of the above, high speed, high capacity wireless networks havegenerally been limited by backhaul bandwidth. Such bandwidth, previouslyprovided by copper, optical or microwave radio links, comes at a verygreat cost to the operator and deployer of the wireless network. Awireless backhaul is clearly an attractive alternative.

However, network designers do face difficulties in using wirelesstechnology to link the wireless nodes (which distribute the signals to awireless end user) back to the wired network. It is desirable tomaximize the range between the wireless nodes and the wired network toprovide the operator with the greatest freedom in network deploymentlocation. However, many deployments, such as in dense urban areas, donot allow for line of sight links from all wireless nodes to the wirednetwork interface. Even if line of sight is possible, the variablepropagation performance of wireless links and the constant changes inthe nature and location of traffic demand make dedicated point to pointlinks less than optimal. In addition, hauling all links back to acentral point leads to high signal congestion at that point.

Previous attempts to remedy the above issues have met with limitedsuccess. A number of patents assigned to Metricom, Inc. have attemptedto solve the above issues. U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,400 envisions amultipoint to multipoint system with relay nodes receiving multiplewireless signals from multiple repeater nodes. Unfortunately, the systemsuffers from the possibility of signal congestion at both the repeaterand the relay nodes.

SkyPilot Networks, Inc. (www.skypilot.com) proposes a similar multipointto multipoint wireless network with every subscriber node being coupledto every other node surrounding it. Data can then travel across any oneof the links to arrive at the destination. Unfortunately, theperformance of this type of network is highly dependent on the presenceand location of the subscriber's equipment. It suffers from limits toscalability—since each subscriber node is potentially a connecting linkfor all traffic, each subscriber node can potentially become cloggedwith data traffic. In addition, there are problems in seeding initialnetwork coverage. Furthermore, there is a greater potential lack ofprivacy between subscribers since each node can become an interceptpoint for network wide data leaks.

Mesh Networks, Inc. (www.meshnetworks.com) has taken a similar approachwith a different application and implementation in mind. An ad hocwireless peer to peer network is created using low power mobile end userwireless devices. User devices, now mobile, become integral routingpoints for data traveling through the network. Unfortunately, thisapproach requires large numbers of end user devices in a given area towork properly. Furthermore, the unpredictable nature of the end users'presence and location, most of whose devices will form part of therouting network, makes for unpredictable and potentially unreliablesystem availability and performance.

What is therefore required is a system that mitigates the drawbacks ofthe prior art and provides an improved solution. The solution shouldideally allow flexible allocation of higher bit rates between nodes andshould be readily deployable in non line of sight environments, offeringreliable service to all subscribers at each node.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides networks, devices and methods related towireless networking. A wireless network using nodes that perform bothdistribution and backhaul functions is provided. These nodes constitutethe key elements of a wireless network that would be deployed andcontrolled by a wireless network operator. Each node contains adistribution wireless module which is wirelessly coupled to the wirelessend user device using a point to multipoint scheme. Also integrated intoeach node is at least one backhaul wireless module with a directionalwireless antenna. Each backhaul wireless module communicates by way of apoint to point wireless link with the backhaul module of one other node.The nodes in the wireless network are interconnected to form a meshbackhaul network. Because of the nature of a mesh network, data trafficcan be routed around obstacles that may prevent line of site links.Furthermore, the mesh network allows dynamic routing of data traffic toavoid congestion points or downed links in the network.

In an aspect of the present invention there is provided, a wirelessnetwork for providing services to a plurality of end users, the networkcomprising:

-   -   a plurality of routing nodes for routing traffic by using at        least one wireless signal, each routing node being wirelessly        coupled to at least one other node,    -   at least one network aggregation node for routing said traffic        between said wireless network and another network, the or each        network aggregation node being coupled to at least one routing        node;        wherein at least one routing node also performs a distribution        function for distributing said traffic to at least one wireless        end user device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the invention will be obtained by consideringthe detailed description below, with reference to the following drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 is a top level large network block diagram illustrating a numberof subnetworks coupled to a core network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a wireless subnetwork with a networkaggregation node and multiple routing nodes and end nodes;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the modules in an end node;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the modules in a routing node;and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the modules in a networkaggregation node.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a large network 10 isillustrated. The network 10 consists of a core network 20 and wirelessnetworks 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, each of which has a network aggregationnode 30A, 40A, 50A, 60A, 70A. The core network 20 may be a public and/orprivate, voice and/or data network. Each wireless network covers aspecific geographic region. Each network aggregation node 30A-70Adirectly connects to the core network 20 by conventional means such ascopper wire, fiber optic cable or microwave radio transmission. Eachnetwork aggregation node 30A-70A then distributes data from the largenetwork to end users within the geographic region of the coverage of itswireless network.

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the wireless network 30 in FIG.1 is illustrated. As can be seen, the network aggregation node 30A isconnected to a core network as shown previously in FIG. 1. The wirelessnetwork 30 consists of a wireless network aggregation node 30A, a numberof routing nodes 80A-80S and a number of end nodes 90A-90M. The routingnodes 80A-80S are interconnected to form a mesh network. The connectionsbetween the routing nodes and the end nodes are as follows:

Routing Connected to Network Connected to Connected to Node AggregationNode 30A Routing Nodes End Nodes 80A YES 80E, 80C 90A, 90B 80B NO 80D,80C 90H 80C NO 80A, 80B 90C 80D NO 80E, 80B, 80F 90D 80E YES 80D, 80G,80A 80F NO 80D, 80I, 80G 80G NO 80E, 80F, 80H 80H YES 80G, 80I, 80L, 80R80I NO 80F, 80H, 80J 90G 80J NO 80I, 80K 90F 80K NO 80J, 80L, 80M 90E80L NO 80H, 80K, 80S 80M NO 80K, 80S, 80N 90K, 90J 80N NO 80M, 80O 80ONO 80N, 80P 90I 80P NO 80Q, 80S, 80O 90M 80Q YES 80R, 80P 90L 80R YES80H, 80S, 80Q 80S NO 80L, 80M, 80P, 80R

A network aggregation node performs routing of traffic, either betweennodes in the wireless network, or between the wireless network and thecore network. The network aggregation nodes terminates backhaul linksfrom routing or end nodes in the wireless network. Network aggregationnodes may also perform a distribution function where there is a need toprovide service to subscribers near the aggregation point.

A main function of a routing node is to perform backhaul and routing oftraffic from a source to a destination. Each routing node is coupled toat least one other routing node (or the aggregation node) by a point topoint wireless link Most routing nodes also perform a distributionfunction in that they communicate with end user devices, using amultipoint wireless link, to receive and distribute traffic to and fromthese end user devices.

End nodes, on the other hand, only receive traffic from end user devicesfor transmission to a routing node (or the aggregation node) and theydistribute traffic received from routing nodes (or the aggregation node)to end user devices.

From the above, the main functions of a routing node are a superset ofthe functions of an end node. A routing node serves to route trafficfrom a source, such as an end user device in the same wireless networkor a node in the larger network, to a destination, again such as an enduser device in the wireless network or in another network. The trafficis sent encoded in at least one wireless signal that is transmitted fromone routing node to another in the wireless network until it reaches itsdestination—either an end user device or the network aggregation node.If the destination is the network aggregation node, the traffic can befurther routed via the core network to its ultimate destination. If thedestination is an end user, the traffic is distributed to the end userdevice serviced by an appropriate routing or end node. It shouldtherefore be clear that both routing and end nodes communicate with theend user devices and distributes the traffic which has been routed viaother routing nodes. Both end and routing nodes receive traffic from theend user devices that they service and transmit this traffic to theappropriate routing or aggregation node for routing to theirdestination.

It should be noted that, in performing the distribution function, eachrouting node or end node communicates with multiple wireless end userdevices. This point to multipoint nature of the distribution function isin contrast to the point to point nature of the backhaul function of therouting node. Each wireless link between routing nodes in the wirelessnetwork is independent of any other and, due to this, each link canserve as a back up or a redundancy for the other links. If a wirelesslink between two routing nodes fails or is congested, the network canadaptively re-route traffic around the blockage or the congestion. As anexample, referring to FIG. 2, if traffic destined for end node 90Foriginates from the network aggregation node 30A, one sequence ofrouting nodes that can be traversed is that of 30A-80H-80I-80J-90F.However, if the wireless link between routing nodes 801 and 80H goesdown for any number of reasons, the traffic can be rerouted to thefollowing sequence of routing nodes: 30A-80H-80L-80K-80J-90F. This canbe implemented by providing each routing node with a table ofdestinations and primary and secondary next hops for that destination.Thus, for a destination in node 90F, the table in node 80H will have aprimary next hop as node 801 with a secondary hop as node 80L andperhaps a tertiary next hop as node 80G. Each routing node thuscontinually checks the status of its links to determine if they areavailable or not. If traffic destined for a certain destination has aprimary hop that is unavailable, then the traffic is sent to thesecondary next hop or, alternatively, to a tertiary next hop. Thetime-varying data regarding the availability of the links that a routingnode may use are then distributed to other routing nodes so that eachrouting node may have a map of the prevailing conditions in the wirelessnetwork.

While the above explanation posits routing traffic based on theavailability of wireless links between routing nodes, other routingschemes may be used. As an example, routing schemes based on balancingthe data transmission loads between links for at least some of therouting nodes in the wireless network may be used. These and otherrouting schemes are known to those skilled in the art and should bechosen based on the circumstances surrounding each specificimplementation. Flammer III, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,608, incorporatedherein by reference, discloses one such routing scheme which may beused. Similarly, Flammer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,726 and Baran etal. in U.S. Pat. 5,115,433, both of which are incorporated herein byreference, disclose other routing schemes which may be used.

One possible routing scheme is derived from known link state routingtechniques. This routing scheme is particularly applicable to wirelessnetworking as link state routing schemes have advantages in robustnessand convergence speed, two characteristics important for wirelessnetworks.

For this routing scheme, each node has a router daemon which performsfour functions:

a) The daemon greets and establishes contact with neighboring nodes bysending identifying packets to the neighboring nodes.

b) The daemon constructs and sends to each neighboring node a link statepacket. Each link state packet contains the address/name/identifyingindication of the originating node, the originating node's neighboringnodes, and, for each neighboring node, a cost associated with adedicated link between the neighboring node and the originating node.

c) Each link state packet is transmitted to all the other nodes and isprovided with either time stamps or sequence numbers. The time stampsand/or sequence numbers are used to ensure that the latest data is beingused for any particular routing node. The daemon keeps track of theselink state packets and ensures that the latest data is being used forall nodes in the network.

d) Each routing daemon in each node then continuously computes routes toeach destination within the wireless network using its own home node asthe starting point. This calculation can be done using, among others,the well-known Dijkstra Shortest Routing Path algorithm. This and otheralgorithms for calculating routing paths based on costs associated witheach link may be found in texts such as “Introduction to Algorithms”,McGraw-Hill, 1990. For optimum results, the data traffic should berouted to a route in which the combined cost is minimal.

As noted above, a cost is associated with each link between two nodes inthe wireless network. For each link, the cost can be derived from:

1) bit rate information for the link found the adaptive modulators usedat the physical layer of the link

2) link utilization information extracted from parameters, such asdelay, measured at each node.

This cost for each link can be automatically calculated at theinitiation or startup of the link using the bit rate informationreferred to above. The cost can thereafter be updated for any changes inthe bit rate and, optionally, using link utilization information asoutlined above. These steps will provide a reasonably instantaneousindication of the cost for each link. Such time-varying information, inconjunction with the routing scheme outlined above, will allow each nodeto determine the most efficient routing path through the network for itstraffic. This time-varying information will ensure that, for any giventime period, the most efficient path will in all likelihood be used fortraffic to traverse the wireless network. Since the backhaul links areindependent point to point connections, the allocation of transmissioncapacity between the two ends of a given backhaul link can be determinedbetween the two ends independently of any other link. The allocation ofcapacity in the two directions may be predetermined—fixed or underoperator control. Alternatively a protocol can negotiate between the twoends to decide on the flow of traffic on the basis of packets queued ateach end of the link. The number or size of the packets can be used todetermine which end is to transmit. This and other parameters of thelink can be negotiated between the two ends of the link. Additionallyfor multimedia traffic, priority tags may be used with the packets asthey are queued and Quality of Service (QoS) management may be used toalter the transmission order of the packets.

To improve the performance of each of the point to point backhaulconnections, interference between backhaul radios within a given routingnode should be minimized. For applications in which time division duplextransmission (TDD) is used for interleaving receive and transmit datatransmissions, the backhaul radios in a single node may be synchronized.This will ensure all radios in a single node are transmitting during thesame interval so as not to desensitize nearby backhaul radio receivers.This synchronization can be implemented by injecting a framing signalinto the protocol processors within each node. The timing of transmitpackets on all links for a particular node are then referenced by theprocessors to that framing signal.

Compared to traditional wireless networks, where links are staticallyassigned, the network explained here is particularly useful forapplications where propagation characteristics change and trafficvolumes and congestions fluctuate. Each routing node can be deployed ata street corner or rooftop where it may have a point to point line ofsight wireless link with at least one other routing node or end node.While line of sight is not necessary for a point to point wireless link,much greater data throughput and transmission spreads and/or distancescan be achieved with such links. Furthermore, while direct line of sightfrom the network aggregation node may not be possible to each and everyrouting or end node, by routing traffic from the network aggregationnode through multiple routing nodes, the range of a wireless network canbe greatly extended. As an example, if the network aggregation node 30Acan only have line of sight access to routing nodes 80A, 80E, 80H, 80R,80Q with each routing node being within 5 kilometers of the networkaggregation node, by routing traffic through the routing nodes, trafficcan reach end node 90F which may be as far as 20 km away from thenetwork aggregation node 30A.

It should be clear that for the distribution function, each routing orend node has a limited geographic coverage in that only wireless endusers within that geographic coverage can receive services from aparticular node. Thus, wireless end user device being serviced by node90C cannot be serviced by node 90M. Each node therefore covers a “cell”,a geographic area in which users can be serviced by a particular node.While cells may overlap, each node can service end user devices whichare in its cell. To extend the coverage of the wireless network tomultiple isolated islands, between which no coverage is required,dedicated routing nodes which only perform the backhaul function and notthe distribution function may be used.

To implement the above wireless network, FIG. 3 illustrates a blockdiagram for an end node device 100. The end node device 100 has abackhaul wireless module 110 coupled to a directional antenna 120. Amultipoint distribution wireless module 130 is coupled to antennae 140A,140B. It is suggested that two antennae be used to implement spatial orpolarization diversity, thereby increasing the range of each multipointradio. The backhaul and distribution radios may use common or separatefrequency bands depending on the capacity required and the radiospectrum available. A management and control module 150 controls nodeoperation and routing functions and implements protocols such as SNMP(Simple Network Management Protocol) for network management functions. Apower supply/battery backup module 160 provides power to the end nodedevice 100. The backhaul wireless module 110 receives a wireless signalby way of the antenna 120 from a neighboring routing node. The trafficencoded in the wireless signal is then extracted and encoded for thedifferent end user devices, 175A, 175B, 175C, that are its destinations.These wireless signals are then sent to the end user devices by way ofthe multipoint distribution wireless module 130 and the antennae 140A,140B. Traffic is received by the end node from these end user devices byway of the multipoint distribution wireless modules 130 and themultipoint antennae 140A, 140B and this traffic is extracted,re-encoded, and sent to the backhaul wireless module 110 and its antenna120. This encoded traffic is then transmitted by the backhaul wirelessmodule 110 to the wireless network for routing to its destination.

Referring to FIG. 4, a block diagram of a routing node device 170 isillustrated. This routing node device 170 performs both distribution andbackhaul functions. As can be seen, the routing node device 170 isequipped with three backhaul wireless modules 110A, 110B, 110C withtheir corresponding directional antennae 120A, 120B, 120C. A multipointdistribution wireless module 130 and its antennae 140A, 140B, arepresent along with a management and control module 150 and powersupply/battery backup module 160. Similar to the device 100 in FIG. 3,the multipoint distribution wireless module 130 communicates with enduser devices 175A, 175B, 175C. A switch/router module 180 is coupled toall the wireless modules—backhaul wireless modules 110A, 110B, 110C andmultipoint distribution wireless module 130. The switch/router module180 routes traffic within the routing node device 170 to their properwireless module interim destinations. As an example, information intraffic received from another routing node by way of one of the backhaulwireless modules may be destined for another routing node or it may bedestined, via the distribution module, for an end user device currentlybeing serviced by this routing node. If the information within thattraffic is destined for another routing node, then the information issent to one of the other backhaul wireless modules for transmission to aneighboring routing node. If the traffic is destined for an end userdevice currently being serviced by this particular routing node 170,then the traffic is routed by the switch/router 180 to the multipointdistribution wireless module 130. Otherwise, the traffic is routed toone of the other backhaul wireless modules 110B, 110C. Thisswitch/router module 180, in conjunction with the management and controlmodule 150, would implement whichever routing scheme is chosen.

In contrast to the above description of a regular routing node, adedicated routing node is a routing node which only performs thebackhaul function and not the distribution function. It is generallysimilar to a regular routing node except for one important detail. Sincethe dedicated routing node will not be performing the distributionfunction, the dedicated routing node will not have the multipointdistribution wireless module 130 and antennae 140A, 140B. However, asidefrom this distinction, dedicated routing nodes are similar in structureand construction to regular routing nodes.

It should be noted that any wireless signal received by a routing node(or a dedicated routing node) is first decoded to extract the addressinginformation encoded within the traffic carried by the wireless signal.Then, based on that addressing information, the traffic is routed toanother wireless module, either another backhaul wireless module or amultipoint distribution wireless module (if present). At this secondwireless module, the traffic is re-encoded into a wireless signal so itcan be transmitted to either another node or an end user device.

A similar process is executed by each end node. Any wireless signalreceived from a routing node by way of the backhaul wireless module 110is decoded to extract the addressing information encoded within thetraffic contained in the wireless signal. The traffic is then sent tothe multipoint distribution wireless module 130 for re-encoding into awireless signal and transmission to the relevant end user device.Similarly, traffic received from an end user device by way of themultipoint distribution wireless module 130 is decoded and, based on theaddressing information in the traffic, sent to either the backhaulwireless module 110 (for transmitting to the wireless network by way ofa neighboring routing node) or the multipoint distribution wirelessmodule 130 (for transmitting to another end user device being servicedby the same end node).

Referring to FIG. 5, a block diagram of a network aggregation node 30Ais illustrated. As can be seen, the aggregation node device 190 is againequipped with three backhaul wireless modules 110A, 110B, 110C withtheir corresponding directional antennae 120A, 120B, 120C. An optionalmultipoint distribution wireless module 130 and its antennae 140A, 140B,are shown in this example. A distribution module will be included whenthere is a need to provide service to subscribers near the aggregationpoint. Also shown are a management and control module 150 and a powersupply/battery backup module 160. A switch/router module 180 is coupledto all the wireless and wired modules. A network interface module 200connects to the core network, using any of a variety of voice or datanetwork interfaces and protocols, such as Ethernet, ATM (AsynchronousTransfer Mode), or traditional TDM (Time Division Multiplexing)interfaces.

To minimize external interference and maximize range, the wirelesssignal from backhaul module 110 ideally feeds an associated directionalantenna with a narrow beamwidth. The narrowness of the beamwidth needsto be traded off against the need to avoid any line of sight pointing atinstallation. Beamwidths of 15-60 degrees have been found to be areasonable compromise between the two. Other beamwidths may be tried forother specific applications.

When nodes are deployed outdoors, temperature and humidity variationsand other environmental factors can wreak havoc on network performance.To minimize any environmental effects on the wireless network, eachrouting or end node which will be deployed in an outside environment mayideally be weather hardened. Suitable weather resistant measures, suchas waterproofing the casing and screening from sun and contaminants, areadvisable. The weather resistance measures may differ for differentenvironments as nodes to be installed in a northern climate will have todeal with significantly different weather conditions from nodes to beinstalled in a desert or a tropical climate.

A person understanding this invention may now conceive of alternativestructures and embodiments or variations of the above all of which areintended to fall within the scope of the invention as defined in theclaims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless network for providing services to aplurality of end users, the network comprising: a plurality of nodes,each node being wirelessly connected to at least one other correspondingnode for communication by way of a dedicated point-to-point link, eachnode comprising at least two wireless backhaul modules for communicatingwith the at least one other corresponding node, the plurality of nodescomprising: a plurality of routing nodes for routing traffic by using atleast one wireless signal, wherein at least one routing node furthercomprises a wireless distribution module for communicating traffic to atleast one corresponding wireless end user device, wherein the at leastone routing node receives the at least one wireless signal from the atleast one other corresponding node by way of the at least two wirelessbackhaul modules and transmits at least a portion of the at least onewireless signal to the at least one corresponding end user device by wayof the wireless distribution module; and at least one networkaggregation node for routing the traffic between the wireless networkand another network; wherein each wireless backhaul module communicateswith only a single corresponding node in the wireless network at any onetime, and wherein the wireless backhaul modules of each node arecollocated in the node and are configured to minimize interferencetherebetween.
 2. A wireless network according to claim 1 wherein eachnetwork aggregation node is coupled to a corresponding core networkwhich provides at least a portion of traffic, the traffic being encodedinto the at least one wireless signal for routing to the at least onecorresponding end user device.
 3. A wireless network according to claim1 wherein each of the plurality of routing nodes is coupled to at leastone other routing node by way of a point-to-point wireless link.
 4. Awireless network according to claim 3 wherein the plurality of routingnodes are wirelessly coupled to form a mesh network.
 5. A wirelessnetwork according to claim 4 wherein the mesh network allows traffic tobe routed from one node in the network to another node, the trafficbeing encoded in the at least one wireless signal.
 6. A wireless networkaccording to claim 1 wherein each wireless distribution modulewirelessly communicates with a corresponding plurality of wireless enduser devices.
 7. A wireless network for providing services to aplurality of end users, the network comprising: a plurality of routingnodes for routing traffic by using at least one wireless signal, eachrouting node being wirelessly coupled to at least one other node; atleast one network aggregation node for routing the traffic between thewireless network and another network, each network aggregation nodebeing coupled to at least one routing node; wherein at least one routingnode also performs a distribution function for distributing the trafficto at least one wireless end user device and comprises: at least twobackhaul modules; and, a switch/router module for routing trafficbetween different modules in the at least one routing node, the trafficbeing extracted from the at least one wireless signal, wherein, each ofthe at least one routing node receives the at least one wireless signalfrom the at least one other node by way of the at least two backhaulmodules and transmits at least a portion of at least one of the at leastone wireless signal to either: another node in the wireless network byway of at least one backhaul module; or, to the at least one end userdevice by way of the wireless distribution module; each backhaul modulecommunicates with only a single node in the wireless network at any onetime, and the backhaul modules of each of the at least one routing nodeare collocated in the routing node and are configured to minimizeinterference therebetween.
 8. A wireless network for providing servicesto a plurality of end users, the network comprising: a plurality ofrouting nodes for routing traffic by using at least one wireless signal,each routing node being wirelessly coupled to at least one other node;and, at least one network aggregation node for routing the trafficbetween the wireless network and another network, each networkaggregation node being coupled to at least one routing node; wherein atleast one routing node also performs a distribution function fordistributing the traffic to at least one wireless end user device andeach network aggregation node comprises: at least one wireless backhaulmodule for communicating with at least one node in the wireless network;a switch/router module for routing traffic between different modules inthe aggregation node, the traffic being extracted from the at least onewireless signal; and, at least one network interface module forcommunicating with the another network; wherein each network aggregationnode receives the at least one wireless signal from the at least onenode by way of the at least two backhaul modules and transmits at leasta portion of at least one of the at least one wireless signal to adestination selected from a group comprising: another node in thewireless network by way of at least one backhaul module; and, theanother network by way of the at least one network interface module;wherein each wireless backhaul module communicates with only a singlenode in the wireless network at any one time, and the backhaul modulesof each network aggregation node are collocated in the networkaggregation node and are configured to minimize interferencetherebetween.
 9. A wireless network according to claim 8 wherein eachnetwork aggregation node further comprises a wireless distributionmodule for communicating with at least one wireless end user device. 10.The wireless network according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein thenetwork utilizes time-varying information to route traffic in thewireless network.
 11. The wireless network according to claim 10wherein, for each wireless backhaul module, the time-varying informationis derived from bit rate information related to a link between thewireless backhaul module and the single node.
 12. The wireless networkaccording to claim 10 wherein, for each backhaul module, thetime-varying information is derived from link utilization informationrelated to a utilization of a link between the backhaul module and thesingle node.
 13. The wireless network according to any one of claims 1to 12 wherein the backhaul modules are time synchronized such that allbackhaul modules transmit only during common time intervals.
 14. Thewireless network according to claim 13 wherein the backhaul modules aretime synchronized with a framing signal such that the timing oftransmissions from any backhaul module is based on the framing signal.